


we're breaking bread again

by RadioFreeHayden



Category: The AM Archives (Podcast), The Bright Sessions (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Not Canon Compliant, post tama, they're friends and it's Good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:08:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22841515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RadioFreeHayden/pseuds/RadioFreeHayden
Summary: Sam had two rules:1. No talking about work.2. No talking about Joan.They’ve been sitting in silence for two full minutes.OR: Sam and Owen have lunch together.
Relationships: Samantha Barnes & Owen Thompson | Agent Green
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20
Collections: Happy Birthday Marcus





	we're breaking bread again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thefigureinthecorner](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefigureinthecorner/gifts).



> title from "Taste" by Sleeping at Last
> 
> Marcus, you're cool n rad and I'm glad we're friends. Happy birthday!

Sam had two rules:

1\. No talking about work.  
2\. No talking about Joan.

They’ve been sitting in silence for two full minutes. 

“So,” Owen starts. “The weather has been nice.”

Sam snorts. “No it hasn’t.”

“No. It hasn’t.” He sighs. “This is sort of pathetic, isn’t it?”

The thing is, Owen is _good_ at small talk. He knows the right things to say, the right friendly inquiries to make to put people at ease. He’s good at this. But this is different. He doesn’t know where to fit his relationship with Sam into his mind. He started checking in on her because his job required him to. She resented him. She agreed to work with him because she saw him as a lesser evil, they survived a traumatic night together, and . . . now they’re friends. He thinks. 

Talking to Sam isn’t like talking to his parents, who have known him forever, or like talking to his patients, who don’t really know him at all. It’s a completely separate category that he has no idea how to navigate. 

She might be his only friend. He ought to learn how to talk to her. 

“It’s a little . . ." Sam bites her lip, choosing her words carefully. “Concerning, maybe.”

“I don’t need you to be concerned about me.” She has enough to worry about as it is. 

“Owen. We’re friends. Friends worry about each other sometimes,” she says. “It’s . . . it’s okay to let people care about you.”

“I . . . Thank you,” he says. Then, a moment later, “How’s Darwin?” He wonders if she’ll call him out for deflecting the conversation away from himself, but she just smiles and pulls out her phone to show him pictures of her cat. 

Once Owen has seen every Darwin photo in her gallery, Sam says, a little hesitantly, “I listened to an episode of _Hidden Brain_ the other day. Joan mentioned you liked it, and it sounded interesting, so . . .”

He didn’t think Joan would remember. He didn’t think she’d been paying attention at all when he’d mentioned it, actually; she had more important things to think about. But she did notice, and Owen desperately wants to ask Sam about it, but that would violate one of the only rules she set.

So instead, he asks her about the podcast. Their conversation shifts from _Hidden Brain_ to _Dr. Who_ to _Hamilton_ , with a dozen other things discussed along the way. For all his struggles in starting this conversation, he's surprised by how easy it is to talk to her. There's a sense of ease and comfort that he didn't expect. If he's being honest, he can't remember how long it's been since he's a had a conversation like this. As much as he insisted the opposite, Sam was right: he needed a break. He needed a chance to talk about things that don't make him feel the weight on his shoulders increase with every word.

They eventually land on the topic of _The Phantom of the Opera_ , and Sam mentions remembering her parents singing it in the kitchen, then goes quiet for a minute.

“I’m sorry,” Owen says. “I didn’t mean to-”

“No,” she stops him, “it’s okay. It’s actually kind of nice, to be able to talk about them.” 

“Okay,” he says. “Tell me more. That is, if you want to.”

She does. She tells him about old recipes, about Christmas traditions, about family movie nights. About her mom being unfairly good at Settlers of Catan, and about her dad giving her piggyback rides even after she was too old for them. 

“Thank you,” she says finally. “For listening, and everything.” She takes a breath. “It’s nice having people I can trust.”

Oh. 

He doesn’t know what he expected, but it wasn’t that. He can still hear her voice in his head, telling him months ago that she didn’t trust him. Even after she agreed to work with him, he didn’t ever expect that to change. 

But. Well, here they are. 

“Thank you, Sam.”

He’s trying to do what she told him, trying to learn to let himself have things. Her trust is a precious gift, and he’s giving himself permission to accept it. 

Owen has been carrying a weight for years, maybe decades. Since Joan found out about Mark, certainly, but quite possibly since long before that. The weight hasn't been lifted, and he doesn't know how to put it down, or if he can let himself do that. But he's slowly learning to hold it differently.


End file.
